Apologize
by Sode no Shirayuki1411
Summary: Nico leaves Will who will travel to Hades and back to make sure Nico knows that he is loved. Except he never makes it back. Solangelo. Character death.
**Well, here you have it guys. I have never written a character death before so I hope this is okay. This fic is dedicated to Agatha (Guest), who requested a one-shot of my original idea before I wrote 'Yes.' So here it is.**

 **Okay, if anyone has any Solangelo one-shot requests PLEASE send them to me, I am totally out of ideas.**

 **Also, quick question, what is your favourite Percy Jackson pairing and why? Or what is the strangest pairing you ship and why? Please leave a review or PM me and tell me cuz I'd really like to know. For one thing, I am curious to see if anyone ships the same things I do and for another I want to get better at writing fluff so I'd like to know what people look for in their ships.**

 **Thanks guys.**

 **That's all, I own nothing except the plot. I hope you like.**

* * *

Apologize

* * *

"I don't have anything to apologize for," Nico said softly, "this is my decision."

Will swallowed, hard, "N-Nico, I," he choked back several denials, _please don't leave me,_ and _but I love you,_ foremost among them. But Will knew Nico well, very well. He knew when to not give an inch, he knew when to compromise, and he knew when Nico had made up his mind completely.

And if he really didn't want to stay then Will couldn't force him.

"I-I'm not going to pretend I'm happy about it," his voice trembled, "but if this is what you really want..." he broke off and fought back tears.

Nico turned to face the shadows, not Will.

"I was never the boyfriend you deserved. This is for the best. Goodbye Will."

 _Wait, what?! Is that what this is about!?  
_

Will whipped around, "what?! Nico di Angelo get back here!

He lunged forward but his hand closed on empty air as Nico stepped through the shadows.

"Damnit Nico! _That_ is _my_ decision to make!"

His hand slammed against the wall as Will braced himself on it.

"I love you."

He broke down against the wall crying.

* * *

"Father," Nico greeted coolly as the passed each other in a stone hallway.

Hades saw him and did a double-take, "what's wrong with you?"

Dear Zeus, was it that obvious?

"Nothing," replied Nico, his voice as dead as his eyes, "I just haven't slept recently," always a good fallback reason for having huge bags under your eyes and looking as though your heart had just been stabbed with an icicle, trodden on and then abandoned. By you.

Hades walked on without another word but allowed himself a glance back at his son walking in the opposite direction before hurrying to find Persephone, she'd know what to do. And something had to be done.

* * *

Three days Will struggled with his broken heart telling him to do one thing and his brain telling him to do another. Or, more accurately, his broken heart telling him to do eight things and his brain telling him to do eight other different things, leaving Will hurting and confused.

He kept busy, throwing himself into his work. He pulled out all the supplies in the medical closet (more accurately, the medical _room),_ cleaned out the place, sorted everything and threw out the things too old to be of any use anymore.

But whenever he stopped or the task got so repetitive that his mind could wander or at night when he was alone, especially then, a wave of sadness would crash over Will as he remembered that the best thing in his life had just slipped through his fingers.

Or had it?

As he'd said, if Nico didn't want to be with Will anymore that was his own choice, it would emotionally destroy Will but he would respect that decision and defend Nico's right to make it.

But, Nico had said that he wasn't the boyfriend Will deserved and that was so unfair and so untrue that it brought tears to Will's eyes almost every time he recalled those words. It broke his heart that Nico still thought that way about himself and made Will ashamed of himself. What sort of boyfriend was he if Nico could still believe any of that to be true? Will was the shitty boyfriend here.

If that was his only reason for breaking up with Will then Will needed to fix this.

But what if it wasn't? What if he found Nico, and Zeus only knew where he was by now (actually, even Zeus probably didn't know), and actually managed to convince Nico he was a good boyfriend, a good person, and Nico still told him to take a hike? Well, that would suck but he still needed to do this.

Will sighed, "well Dad, you're big on this love stuff, what do you think? Should I go after him?" He asked the empty room.

Will's bow and quiver of arrows, which were hanging on a hook by the door, fell off their perch and landed on Will's hiking boots.

That was good enough for him, Will made arrangements and was ready to leave within the hour.

The problem was, he had no idea where he was going.

Will knew Nico well enough to know that after leaving him and Camp Half-Blood Nico would immediately travel to the Underworld to see his father, it was a safe spot for him, a natural bolt-hole. Whether Nico actually _wanted_ to see his father or thought of Hades as somewhere safe for him was neither here nor there but he'd go there instinctually anyway.

But it had been three days, Will had no way of knowing if Nico would still be there or, if he wasn't, if anyone in the Underworld would know where he'd gone next. _Nico_ might not even know where he was going next and that made him pretty hard to second-guess. Maybe Will would be better off going straight to Camp Jupiter to see Hazel. Either she would know where her brother was or he would show up there to visit her eventually.

He was just chewing his lip as he considered this when a dark-haired man in a jogging outfit flew down towards him on a pair of winged shoes.

"Are you Will Solace?" He asked with the air of someone who knew the answer was 'no' but was obliged to ask anyway.

"Yes I am," Will replied, confused.

The man's face lit up in a dazzling grin, "wonderful! I swear, your father..." he shook his head in disgust, "asks me to deliver a message from Hades to one of his sons and tells me you have 'blond hair and blue eyes!' So do ninety-nine percent of your siblings!" He shook his head again, "never mind that now."

Winged shoes, delivering a message, Apollo and Hades... "Wait, Lord Hermes?"

Hermes's face brightened again, _"Lord_ Hermes? I like you kid. Anyway, I'm doing Hades a favour and giving you a message. You ready? Listen closely."

Will nodded.

"Ahem," Hermes cleared his throat and recited the very Godly message, "what the Zeus are you waiting for, get your ass down here now and talk to him damn you. Love, Hades," Hermes recited.

Will stared.

"Okay, I might have made the 'love Hades' part up, but the rest is true," said Hermes, "did you understand any of that?"

 _I hope so,_ "yes." Said Will, his questions had been answered, he needed to go to the Underworld.

Oh he hoped this wasn't Hades idea of a joke.

"Wonderful," Hermes clapped him on the shoulder, "you should take these then," he handed Will a shoe box the son of Apollo hadn't seen him holding. It contained, predictably, a pair of shoes. But they were a pair of Hermes winged shoes.

"I just can't help but get involved, I love Shipping!" Hermes said happily. Now Will was even more confused.

The god laughed at Will's bewildered expression, "you're probably better off not knowing but if you really must know ask the Aphrodite kids, they'll tell you."

He ruffled Will's hair and left. Deciding, wisely, that he probably didn't want to know the difference between shipping and Shipping, Will slipped on the flying shoes and set off on his own mission.

* * *

Will found an entrance to the Underworld. Legend had it that Orpheus had once used this entrance in his quest to rescue Eurydice, Will hoped that wasn't a bad omen, considering how things had worked out for them.

He headed down the passageway and it wasn't long before he found Charon, the ferryman.

Will opened his mouth to speak but before he could Charon inclined his head. "Will Solace, Lord Hades said you'd be by. Come along."

Praying to his father for luck and really, _really_ hoping this wasn't Hades idea of a sick joke, Will climbed aboard.

They were about halfway across the river Styx when Charon suddenly spoke, "you've come at a bad time."

Was there _ever_ a good time to visit the Underworld?

Will forced his throat to work, "really, and why's that?"

"Some of the giants banished here are staging a rebellion, or trying to anyway, Lord Hades will finish dealing with them soon enough but for now it's best to keep your wits about you."

Did the ferryman of the underworld make a point to warn all travellers or just travellers Hades had told him to let through? Whatever, Will was still grateful for the warning.

He stepped off the boat when it docked, thanked Charon politely and set off, bow in hand. He still wasn't as good with it as some of his siblings, Will was first and foremost a medic, not a fighter, but he was getting better and it reassured him. He felt more confident with his bow in hand, as long as he kept his wits about him like Charon said, he'd be okay, Will thought.

Naturally because he had thought this he was attacked the moment he turned a corner.

The giant swung a huge club at Will and only his demi-god reflexes saved him. He yelped and rolled to the side, almost rolling into a brick wall, grasping for an arrow as he came up, heart beating like a drum.

His bow would be useless at such close quarters, _'you missed?! How could you miss he was THREE FEET FROM YOU?!"_ flashed through his mind and Will gave himself a mental slap. Now was _so_ not the time for Mulan quotes!

His hand closed over the arrow he wanted and he screwed his eyes shut, jamming it into the wall he was backed up against to activate it.

The flashbang arrow went off with a light Will could see even through closed lids and the giant roared in pain, stumbling backwards, temporarily blinded.

Will utilized his moment of reprieve. There were demi-gods who could fight giants on equal footing, who could even kill them. Will Solace was not one of those demigods.

He bolted and didn't stop running until he nearly crashed head-first into a hellhound.

Had Will done something to piss off the Fates recently?

He whistled and the hellhound collapsed at his feet in a deep sleep but then he had a bigger problem. Literally.

Because when they weren't used for putting them to sleep, whistles were generally used for _attracting_ dogs.

Cerberus came barrelling towards Will, all three heads snapping and snarling, ropes of drool hanging from its mouths and rows and rows of dagger like teeth.

Will's whole body went numb with terror. He put his shaking lips together and tried to whistle but with his erratic breathing he accidentally inhaled instead of exhaling and choked on his own saliva. This was going on his gravestone, 'son of Apollo can't whistle to save his own life, literally, because he's choking on his own saliva,' this was a new one for the records. He was no longer sure if it was Hades but Will was getting more and more certain this was _someone's_ idea of a joke.

His flying shoes would never get him far enough away in time, Will forced his paralysed arms to move, he grasped another arrow. Cerberus, clearly already enraged and seeing Will as another threat, leaped at him.

"Cerberus _no!"_ Screamed a voice Will was intimately familiar with, a voice he had only known for a few short years but would know anywhere, at anytime, anyplace.

Nico's voice.

Cerberus stopped his lunge so abruptly that he seemed to fall out of the air. He lay down on his front and wagged his tail at Will.

Was the Underworld spinning, or was it just him?

"Will," like a mirage Nico appeared by his pet three-headed killing-machine, a lump formed in Will's throat and the ground, which had just seemed to have righted itself, felt like it was tilting under him again.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Nico stammered.

Will forced himself to take a step forward. This was harder than facing down Cerberus or any giant, "I came to see you. I need to talk to you."

Nico's gaze shuttered and for a second he looked as empty as he had after Shadow-travelling the Athena Parthenos all the way to Camp Half-Blood. He flicked his fingers at Cerberus and the monster dog loped off.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy," he sounded like he was forcing every word out through a throat full of broken glass, "so if you'd like to come back later-"

He turned away, screw not being able to move, Will crossed to him in three strides and grabbed his arm, turning Nico back to face him.

"No, we need to do this now. Otherwise you'll just avoid me for the rest of eternity and I can't live with myself a moment longer without making sure you don't believe what you said about you not being good enough for me."

Nico avoided his gaze, Will's heart broke all over again. He took a deep, steadying breath, "Death Boy, Nico, listen to me. I love you. I love everything about you. You are perfect to me and some of the things that make you 'imperfect' are the most perfect things about you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. But if you don't want to be with me," his voice wobbled, "then that's your choice. But don't do it because, don't ever think, that you're not good enough. Because you are so much more than that."

Will was struggling not to cry but Nico was well past that now, there were silent tears running down his face, "I love you," he admitted and Will would have wept in relief and happiness except he could sense the 'but' that was coming next.

"But _this,_ " he swept his arm around in an arc, encompassing the Underworld, the three headed dog receding in the distance, the hellhounds baying for blood, the booms and crashes as giants destroyed things and the wailing of the souls of the dammed. "This is my legacy, this is who I am and this is all I have to offer. I can't do it. Not to you."

There wasn't a step between them but Will took one closer anyway and wrapped his arms around his Death Boy, "you are so much more than this. And when I said I loved you I meant _all_ of you. This is part of who you are and who you are is wonderful."

That was when Nico broke down, sobbing into his chest as Will held him tightly.

After a while, Nico pulled away, taking a step back though he didn't move out of Will's space, his eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, "I'm so sorry about all of this. Let's-" He broke off, his eyes widened.

"Will! L-"

Will never saw the spear as it went through his back, he barely felt the pain as it protruded through his chest. He never even found out what sort of creature had attacked him.

All he knew was that Nico seemed to be shouting. And now Will couldn't hear his voice.

For the third time in ten minutes Will's world heaved and this time he lacked the strength to keep him on his feet. He fell, Nico caught him before he hit the ground and lowered him gently. He shouted something else Will didn't hear as his world went fuzzy and he was dimly aware of the dead erupting around them to deal with his attacker as Nico tried to stop the bleeding.

And Will was a medic, he knew a fatal wound when he saw one.

Nico's voice finally penetrated the fog in Will's brain, "-get you to Camp Half-Blood." Will knew he would never make it that far, he wouldn't even make it in a Shadow-travel to Hades' Palace. And Nico knew it too.

Huh, Will finally understood. This wasn't Hades' idea of a joke. It was Aphrodite's. He had come here expecting to find his true love and then maybe lose him forever. Instead, his true love had found him and would now lose him forever.

"Dad!" Nico screamed, "Apollo!" Neither God answered him, his own father was off fighting giants and this was the Underworld, Apollo held no sway in this domain.

Will's world was fading to black and now he was aware of not so much a pain as a... pressure in his chest. Dimly he knew he was dying but there were more important things to worry about.

Somehow he found the strength to wipe away Nico's tears, "hey," he said, his voice a rasp, "it's okay. I got to be with you again. It's okay."

Nico shook his head vehemently, tears that Will no longer had the strength to wipe away spilling down his cheeks, "don't talk like that. I'm going to get you help." The shadows stirred around them as he prepared to move them both.

"This is fine... right here," Will had always hoped, that when he would inevitably die, it would be in a bright, sunny place filled with life. But here was better. It wasn't the place that was important, it was the people. The hand Will had used to wipe away Nico's tears lost its strength and fell onto the son of Hades' chest with a soft 'thump.'

Even with his senses dimming Will could still feel Nico's warmth under his palm.

"I'm dying in the arms of my first love. The man I'll always love. I love you Nico. And one day... you'll meet someone who leaves no doubt... in you that you're worth it. So... love him Nico. Be happy. You're worth it..."

Saying all he wanted to say Will trailed off. And then the light finally, truly faded from his eyes.

In that moment Nico di Angelo wasn't the son of Hades, he wasn't the Ghost King. He was just a boy who had lost all the things he loved most.


End file.
